Rounding up Tuesday’s recreational pot store openings

Deb Greene, the first customer at the Cannabis City retail marijuana store, buys marijuana on July 8, 2014 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)

Jubilant crowds at Washington’s brand new pot stores cheered Tuesday as they dramatically opened up shop. With long lines, high prices and a media horde usually reserved for things like “Weinergate” or Kate Middleton, the grand openings went pretty much as expected.

Bellingham’s Top Shelf Cannabis sold one of the state’s first bags of weed to a 29-year-old Kansas man visiting family in Washington. “This is a great moment,” Cale Holdsworth told the crowd. “I think it’s a great step forward.”

Later in the day, Deb Greene, a 65-year-old retiree, was the first to buy legal recreational pot in Seattle. “It’s incredibly liberating,” she said. “It’s the dream of every retiree, sleep in and smoke a bowl.”